Moving in Open

[Zuri Watson]

Finally after the most harrowing time in a boat she had made it to the island, right in the middle of a storm what fun, not. She entered the room moving quickly. On the way in the whole place had seemed deserted, which she did not mind at all. She wanted to be able to get used o the place before having to deal with anyone else here.


She knew Derreck had told her that this place would be accepting of her but she highly doubted that, even if everyone here was supposed to be able to turn into animals like she could. She shook her head at just how odd that seemed.

Her dark eyes darted around as she took in the mostly bare room there was a bed, dresser, TV and a night stand, there were actually two beds but she did not see her roommate if she had one. There was a window which looked out away from the school. Even shuttered as it was she could hear the wind howling outside and the rain hitting the building. Still she was happy to have the window if she needed to make a quick get away it would definitley come in handy.

She was wearing a pair of jeans a black T-shirt with a skull on it and a heavy jacket. Her hair was soaking wet behind her. Everything she owned was packed in two travel bags, luckly the bags were water proof. She was very greatful for that as she pulled out drier clothes.

The school to her looked like a high end private school, like the ones she had attended, before she turned into a hyena, and before her foster parents kicked her out. She supressed the rage and bleakness of that memory and simply began unpacking her things. She'd probably keep one of the bags half full just in case they threw her out, or she wanted to make a quick escape. She turned her head suddenly as she heard someone aproaching.

[Serenity Miller]

Serenity was soaked, and she was cold, and it was raining out, and her hooves hands hurt. She had galloped to the building and almost couldn't get herself to down shift back to human, it was storming like a tornado, and she was getting scared, the thunder that was rolling outside startled her, such a horse. Though that was where her life came in, she was a horse, she couldn't control that. She wanted too, but she couldn't. Ever since her shifting day she had constant nightmares about her going off and killing innocent people, and it annoyed her. If she couldn't control herself, than what was the point of being a person. What was the point in trying to fit in with everyone else, she would stand out all she could, she would make a little bit of friends and she would be happy with that. She didn't want a lot of friends, and she didn't want no friends, so she was happy with a little bit of friends, too many friends became a burden, and she didn't like burdens, they were a nusiance, and they wasted time.

She wore a a white zipped up jacket and blue jeans with a studded belt, her hair was soaking wet and her light brown skin was a little paler than normal. She tended to pale when there was loud noises because she got startled, and when she got startled she faught back, unless she couldn't, than she ran and hid, as she was doing now, she had yet to go to her dorm, and actually look around, though she had randomly thrown her stuff on the farthest bed from the window due to her fears. She didn't want to be sleeping by the window in case there was a storm, and irony decided to persist as it was storming when she was out in the forest. She had torn a whole in the back of her jeans when she tripped over the roots due to the loud thunder. She knew how to preserve her cloths in case of shift, and she was lucky for that. It was obvious to tell which bed was hers, for a saddle was in the place of a pillow, and a halter and reigns were flung onto her bed, decency was not her.

She was running through the halls trying to remember which dorm she ran signed up for, it would be more than helpful if she signed up for a dorm that was easy, 218? No, 220? No, 219? Maybe, probably. It was hard for her to figure these things out in her head when she was trying not to panick, she would go to two twenty and try her key, if it didn't work, on to two nineteen, which would be nice, she had a feeling it was, because there was no other number inbetween 18 and 20 that wasn't 19. Of course it should have been easy to remember. Though she inwardly knew it was 219 but she didn't always listen to her instinct, because her instinct was a little horsey. She had a wild side, and not in the good way, she was a simple arabian mare trying to get by in a humans body, and the human was about ready to give up and let the mare go free, it would have been a lot easier that way, she wouldn't have to worry about other humans mistreating her, only being caputed problems.

"Who are you?"

[/color]

She couldn't beleive she couldn't have thought about something nicer to say, or a nice way to say. She sounded mean and snobbish, though she wasn't snobbish, she was just mean, she did fine with everyone else, that she got a good vibe from of course. But that was her fault.

[/color]

Thoughts in 1st

[/size]

[Zuri Watson]

She stared at the other woman for a few seconds as she finished ringing out her hair and getting into some clean dry clothes. She took off her red leather belt, as she spoke. "I'm Zuri, guess we are roommates." She said in a fairly neutral tone of voice not hosile but not friendly.

She would have to get to know the other girl first before she trusted her at all. "I also turn into a hyena." She said in a slightly different tone still neutral but it could be a taken as mess with me and Ill bite. She wanted to be friends with someone, but wasn't sure if she could trust herself around others or could trust others. She didnt think of just being an animal though that would have been running from her problems not solving them.

She took out a towel and silently handed it to the other girl, well shoved it at her rather. It was the closest thing to a friendly gestre the woman was going to get. She wrinkled her nose and looked to the window. "Weather always this lively round here?" She asked as she finished stripping down and drying herself off.

Once dry she took a slightly battered hanger and put her wet clothes on it and hung them in the bathroom for a bit, she wasn't sure where the laundry room was and wasn't about to try and find it
just yet. She was totally naked and didnt seem too concerned about the other woman seeing her that way. In point of fact she was trying to gauge just how the other woman would react, a slight smile on her face.

She bent over and slipped her panties on before putting on a pair of tight shorts and a t-shirt. She sat down on her bed and turned on the tv just glancing at the other woman. She noticed a third bed in the room as well. "How many are in each room?" She asked trying to get a better feel for the school.

[Serenity Miller]

She took the towel and wiped her face, wrapping her hair in it, the girl had some decency, maybe in a thousand years, they could be friends, maybe. She wasn't going to even try to keep a happy hyper cloud over her, this girl just gaves her the feeling that a lot of her old classmates did. But sometimes those feelings were false, she was hoping it wasn't false, having a rival kept people on their toes, and boy did she need kept on her toes. She needed to be strong for when she wasn't in school.

She was a hyena, she could easily step on her if she got her mad, that'd be interesting, she needed to keep a straight head on her shoulders though, if her mind became too clouded her instinct would burst through, along with a brand new appearence, it always seemed amazing to her that a horse could come out of her boddy, she was skiny, and she was all that tall, she was quite short to be honest, and she knew that, the kids at her old schools didn't hesitate to tell her. She chuckled before she would speak.

"Better watch it puppy, I can step on you."

She pointed at the saddle she was now laying her head on, if the girl didn't get the hint she got credit for being the stupidist girl on the planet, and she wouldn't hesitate to tell the girl either, though she had no intentions of telling the girl what breed, not yet, she'd call her fat, watch, then she'd lash out, get into a fight the first day your at the academy, wouldn't that be nice? She supposed she needed to tell the girl her name, to keep all things fair, evenif fair never was any fun, either.

"Serenity Miller."

If there were three beds how many people did the girl think were going to be in the dorm room? Ten? Hell no, of course there were going to be three people. It was that hard to figure out. This girl was either pretty dumb, or just really blonde. She looked at her closely, nope not blonde, brunette? Definately not, she couldn't figure this girl out, she she settled with just really dumb, or maybe she was hallucinating a fourth bed, but than of course there were only be four people than, it was an obvious answer, stupid.

[/color]

"Only three, can't you tell? If you can't, than you have problems."

She obviously thought this girl was stupid, and it showed, she didn't like this girl, how dumb could she be, walking around the room naked, it hadn't phased Serenity much, she was used to it, you go to a public school, you have to change publicly infront of every girl in your grade, not a big deal, or at least it wasn't to her, people thought it was because she had the 'perfect body', as if, she hated her body, it transformed into a monster, any horse that could transform into a human was a monster.

[/color]

[/size]

[Zuri Watson]

She snorted yeah she could tell this was going to be lots of fun, not. So the girl thought just because she was a horse that that meant she could step on her, yeah right. "Serenity is it? Let me tell you something Hyena's in the wild will eat Zebra's, and I've faced worse bullies than you could imagine. For just a secod she dropped the unreadable mask from her eyes.

Zuri wasn't someone to be intimidated easily, if at all. "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to get my major and get out. But stow the attitude, I'm not stupid I saw the three beds, I just wasn't sure if that was because all rooms had three beds or if we actually had another roommate." She said a little tersley before going back to flipping channels.

She found something interesting on discovery channel about different animals. She silently wished she had had an easier to get along with roommate but apparently they had put her in with someone as bitch as she was, oh joy.

Still she could deal with it at least she had a bed and regular meals, rather pathetic when that was her requirment for a decent place. She put a clamp on such thoughts by pulling out a deck of cards and absently played with them, shuffling them. She'd always liked card games for some reason. The familiar feel of the deck helped her keep a reign on her temper.

She sighed as the girl finished drying up sizing her up. In human form it was no contest Zuri knew she oculd probably handle the girl if it came down to it.

She put the cards away and began unpacking her things. She really didn't have much, there was one cocktail dress several more pairs of jeans. A few good t-shirts, one other jacket. Some of the jeans looked a little worn, and the extra jacket had a place where it had been torn and then repaired. Her tennis shoes were in similiar state. It was clear from her things that she didn't have much money, but from the small pieces of jewelry and cocktail dress she put away that she had had more at some point.

She felt on edge she hated being kept inside, if she had been alone she would have been pacing around the room the animal in her wanting out to roam, but not in that storm. She snorted in disgust. She looked warily at the other girl.

"You up for a couple hands of poker?" She kept her face entirley neutral. "We don't even have to play for money if your a little scared." She said baiting Serenity, who sure did not act serene in any shape or form.

[Serenity Miller]

"Hyena's eat zebra's in the wild, they also travel and hunt in packs. Even tiny packs hunt together, you're just solo, I don't think a hyena could keep up with an Arabian horse, mare or stallion, and I'm low, I'm not too scared to attack a person or animal when they least expect it. Honor and dignity never come easy when you sleep in a stable. Besides I'm not being a bully, I just told you to watch your step, your might get hurt, that all.

She looked at the ceiling, her voice was neither annoyed or happy, it was more, cruel and amused, she didn't care about what she thought of her, it took a lot to get her angry now, which she was grateful for, she didn't need to be shifting in her dorm room, she'd have one hell of a time getting out the door. So she wasn't going to let any cruelty bother her. Not now when she had a chance to have a good home and people who like her, her life failed, and she knew that.

"If we don't already have a third roommate we will get one, they try to fill up the rooms once there are no more empty dorms to choose from. Either way it doesn't matter how many we have now, later we will have three, sadly.

She looked at the top bunk over her bed, before they got a new roommate she was definately claiming that bunk. She got up and took her towel into the bathroom, and threw it over the shower, than she came back out and dug through a bag, she always managed to preoccupied, she threw the saddle on the bunk above her, and made sure the bed she was just sitting on wasn't wet, but just to be sure, she pulled a beach towel and put it where she was laying to make sure it was dry. She chuckled.

She threw her laptop on the top bunk also along with everything else she had, suitcase and all, than climbed up with the towel and positioned herself so she could laydown using her saddle as a pillow, and her suitcase at the foot of her bed, she would nail a blanket or something around her bunk so she could decorate it as she wanted. She flopped down on her back and booted up her laptop. She didn't have anything better to do, so she'd relax, and play around a little bit, she flinched as the thunder kept coming.

"I'm a stable girl, I don't play poker, never have, and don't have any interest in learning but if you want money don't have to play cow, just ask, I don't care, you wouldn't be the first person to want to have money to use to spoil on yourself."

The chances of her actually giving the girl money without a reason were generally slim, and she couldn't help that very much. But if it stopped the girl from bugging her, she was all for it.

[Zuri Watson]

She snorted again and just kept shuffling the cards. "Right sure you will, It's alright Ill find a way of getting money some of us don't get an alloance. " She said with a slight sneer hiding the hurt she felt, but if the girl didn't want to do anything with her it wasn't her fault.

She looked at the woman, "And you'd be surprised at what I can do, go ahead and underestimate me if you want." She said though she did think it was kinda cool that the other girl turned into a horse. "And at least you turn into an animal people like." She said with a little bitterness.

She then went back to finishing her packing, even with the small amount of space she had her few possessions looked absalutley pathetic. She didn't even have a cell phone much less a laptop. That had been pawned in her first month on the streets.

She tried not to look at Serenity enviously as she saw the laptop, but didn't quite succeed. It was then that some of the other woman's words came in.

"What do you mean stable girl?" She asked somewhat curiously as she started up a game of solitare just to be doing something. She hated being inactive. She almost jumped as a bolt of lightning crashed close to the school.

"Jesus please tell me that the weather here does not do this often here." She said her voice a little tight. Though she was very very grateful for having a room during a storm like this. She hated thunder storms. Being forced into a room like this with some girl she didn't know was rather difficult to begin with.

Being stuck in a room with a girl who was more of a bitch than she was was worse than horrible. "Wanna learn how to play just to pass the time?" She asked her voice just a little hopeful as half her mind was on the cards. She quickly figured out that this hand of solitare was impossible to win. She sighed as she reshuffled and started again. She never bothered to cheat on a game of solitarie, if she did there was no point.

She changed the channel on the TV looking for anything interesting. She found an extreme dirt bike race and began watching some of it. She paid more attention to the track and the bikes than the people in the race. She did shake her head as a guy took a fall. "Moron, I'd have made that turn at twice that speed." She wasn't being completley boastful either.

[Serenity Miller]

"I worked for my money, a monthly fee was just too easy for my family, I trained horses, I bred horses, I cleaned their stalls, I mowed over 5 acres of land, because that was our driveway, I got kicked by horses repetively, it's not easy working for a living when you're seven!!

She scowled, a monthly fee was not very much, she did need a car at some point in time, or else she wouldn't be able to travel, she prefered earning her money anyways, even if it was from her own family, training horses was hard work, so she got more from that monthly than she did from a years worth of allowance she probably would have gotten if she hadn't moved out of the house and into the stables.

She had had to stay in the stables, Thunder was too weary, and she didn't want to mountain lions or hyena's, or coyotes to get at her, she loved that horse, and she was alwas on high alert when it had came to Thunder, and she had been so devastated when the 'accident' happened. She hated thinking of Thunder, but here she was, moving to pull a stuffed animal out of her bag, actually, she had a lot of stuffed animals, she just hadn't got the chance to set them up yet, she laughed to herself.

When the next peice of lightning hit, she couldn't help but jump and squeak, she hated storms, like a lot of the horses she had, she had a habit of getting spunky before a storm, and she often knew when it was time to go hide. That was the one good thing about her horse features, animals were great at predicting weather.

"It's only underestimating when I say there is no doubt in the world that I will step on you and you can do nothing about it. That's underestimation, but I said I can step on you, there is a difference."

Her voice showed more than a hint of sneering even if her face didn't, who needs expression when you have tone? Like poems, you use tone in poems but you normally don't use expression, not her anyways. It seemed weird acting out a poem, that was just who she was, she couldn't control that. She shut down her laptop, when it was storming it was bad to have it on, but when the storm was right over you, it's even worse, what was she thinking in the first place? The storm could blow her computer, she didn't want that, she needed her computer. But seeing her look and pretending not to notice, she figured she didn't have one, if they got on good terms, and that's a big if she would buy her one for her birthday or christmas which ever was closets to the date that she bought it.

"I had a choice to live but, my sister always kicked me out of the room so I had to go move into the stables with my horses, just as well, they needed me, and I them. They kept me sane. If I was gonna work with the horses, why not just sleep with them, that's what my classmates said as well. As for the storm, I am not sure, I am still new."
She looked at her ceiling as she dug in her bag and pulled out folded cloths hiding them under her saddle, she didn't need a dresser or a closet, she didn't have many cloths, she was a stable girl, she always ruined her cloths, but boy did she have plenty of bikini's, she had one for every day of the month it seemed.

"Is poker a hard game to play?"

She had to ask it, she was seriously thinking of trying it as she dug through her suitcase and finished putting her cloths away, than she took out her horse stuffed animal and set it on her saddle so it would get squished by her.

[Zuri Watson]

"Jesus, if I had had a sister and she pulled shit lik that I'd have fought her tooth and nail." Still there was a hint of grudging respect in her tone for someone who worked for what they had and cared about their animals. "My folks never really had pets around, and Ive never even been horse back riding." She said as she watched the girl put away the computer.

She reshuffled the cards and cut the deck several times. "Well that depends on the kind of poker some are easier to learn than others. With two of us I think we will start easy maybe five card draw?" She said indicating for the slighter girl to take a seat near her on her bed. Her face was still unreadable but she did look a little more at ease.

The storm really had her a little rattled. "So what they just put the new girls together eh? Do you know how many students are here and how many are stallions and how many fillies." She said a slight quirk to her face that may have been called a smile though it was a little small.

"And have you met any boys worth flirting with or are they all morons?" She asked. Guys were usually a safe topic. She dealt the cards five to each of them, then thought better of it. "Here let me see what you've got in your hand and I can explain how the game works. She looked the girl had an Ace of Hearts Queen of Hearts and ten of hears along with a five of clubs and 10 of spades. With this hand you'd want to bet a few chips to start it looks like a great hand but you need two specific cards to make it work a king of hearts and a jack of hearts. Well a jack and king in any suite will be a strong hand but not the strongest. The worsed hand to have is to have nothing usable.

She took 5 cards out of the deck a 3, 10, jack, 7, and a 2. With these you'd pretty much want to fold or just keep the jack and draw four. The hands you can win with are two of a kind to 4 of a kind. She said getting out more 2s. Then if both people have the same, say two players have 2 of a kind the one with the larger number wins. Two 3s beat two 2s and so on and so on. You also have flushes. Which is cards in a row. To have that you have to have 4 cards all in a row. A royal flush is when they are all face cards. And same suit beats a mixed suit. A royal flush of same suit beats any other combination. The next strongest is 4 of a kind.

There is 1 card of each number in each suit. Knowing what people have tossed can give you an idea of whats left in play. Reading peoples expressions is a huge advantage in poker. The goal is to bluff, or intimidate your opponent into making a mistake as much as it is about the cards. If you can use your shifter senses to smell your opponents emotions you can get an advantage. I've used that a few times to scam some people out of money." She said with a grin.

"It really isn't that complicated but there are variations on the game, so care to try a couple hands and learn?"

She managed to avoid antaganizing the girl further, or commenting on the crack about being stepped on, which for her was about as polite as she got. Even if she and her room mate couldnt be friends it would be best not to antagonize the other girl too much.

[Serenity Miller]

"It was better that way. I wasn't expected to do any of the household chores, I hate dishes and vaccumming. The only problem I had was the eight legged creepy crawlies

She laughed at herself, it was funny, the simplicity of the chores was what made her hate them, simplicity cheated life, and it failed at life when you cheated life. As though it mattered, life changed all the time, so cheating it is just preventing change, she wouldv'e preferred having no change, how many people transformed into a horse or a hyena, it was weird, seriously.

She got off of her bunk and stetched, she always stretched, it was just her. It kept her awake, for some reason streching seamed to reanimate her, she always enjoyed it. She sat near the girl and grinned as she asked about her knowledge of the school enrollment.

"I have no idea how many students there are here, and as far as I know, I am the only horse here, one of a kind, no? But yeah, I guess they did just throw two new people together. Maybe our other roommate will not be new."

She was calming down, but that didn't make them friends, tomorrow they would probably have another dispute, especially since she woke up at six in the morning, they would end up killing eachother. She grinned at the thought, they were probably going to be the best/worst friend/enemies in the worlds history. She liked that idea, they could get along if they really wanted too, but they'd probably hate eachother to death almost every other time.

"You're actually only the third person I've met since I've been here, and the other two were girls as well. No boys to flirt with, though I have met a couple guys on the online chat site, they were nice."

She shrugged and shut up as she listened to the explanation, knowing full well, that she would fail at this game the first, ten million times. It took her a while to catch on to these things, and she never played it before, so it would take even longer, she pitied her teacher now, her teacher being Zuri, she also pitied the other teachers at the academy because they would probably blow a casket with her. She listend to what the girl said last as well and laughed.


"I make everything complicated."

[Zuri Watson]

She just shook her head. "Well least a barn would be warm." She said rather tersley. There had been times in the past six months or so that she would have killed for a barn. Hell she had had to fight for places to sleep sometimes, and her first month on the street she thought she would die. But now here she was at some fancy private school mostly with people that were probably rich. Well at least her roomate might not turn out to be too bad, might. The jury was still out where the other girl was concerned. Luckily from what she said she seemed fairly easy to intimidate if she needed to. She had the feeling her roommate wasn't used o confrontations. After all if she had been she would have stood up to her sisters.

She shuffled the deck adroitly not cheating or stacking it, this time. She held the deck out for her roommate. "Its traditional to havethe person not dealing cut the deck to avoid cheating." She said as way of explanation. "And really it is fairly simple." She said getting some poker chips out. "We wont play for money but its more fun when you at least have something to bet." She said with a grin.

Once the other girl cut the deck she dealt them each 5 cards. "Oh one thing I forgot there are two joker cards those are wild and can be any card you want them to be." She said smiling. She looked at her cards, and kept herself from frowning nothing but a pair of fives. "First round of betting happens before you get to draw." She said throwing 10 of her 100 chips into the pot. Even if she had had a better hand she usually started out betting conservativley. "You can put in ten like I did or raise the stakes. Then we discard what cards we want to and draw new ones then another round of betting then show our hands winning hand gets the pot.

"Game ends when one of us runs out of chips. Fairly simple right?" She said. It had taken her foster father explaining it to her when she was twelve and quite a few games with him and her parents for her to learn it, though her skills had been honed on the streets when she had used gambling and things like three card ante and find the queen to keep herself fed. She didnt think her roommate would understand any of that though so she said nothing. Besides she couldn't stand other peoples pity.